Appendix

This document provides graphs and summarizing tables of retention and class performance for a variety of STEM subjects at APU. Data are from Fall 2015 - Summer 2022 and are courtesy of APU’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Freshmen retention is defined as whether a student is enrolled in nonzero units in the following Fall. For example, freshmen starting in Fall 2019 are considered retained if they are taking classes in Fall 2020. Only first-time freshmen starting in a Fall semester are included in analyses using this definition.

STEM retention is defined as whether a student who declared a major in one of three STEM departments (Math and Physics, Biology and Chemistry, or Engineering and Computer Science) is enrolled in nonzero units and still has a major in one of those departments at least one year later.

Note: because retention rates are nearly always above 50% in these data, most of the following visualizations have a truncated scale (50% - 100%) to make differences visibly easier to discern.

APU Freshmen Retention

By Year

Historically, Freshman retention at APU has been high (>80%). The drop in the Fall 2019 cohort is among the freshman cohort for whom COVID hit in spring of their freshman year, and fewer returned for the fully online year in Fall 2020. The retention rate has increased the past two years but is not yet back at pre-pandemic levels.

cohort n prop
cohort1_f15 1024 0.861
cohort2_f16 931 0.832
cohort3_f17 904 0.830
cohort4_f18 898 0.816
cohort5_f19 520 0.761
cohort6_f20 479 0.781
cohort7_f21 493 0.794

The overall decline in first-time freshman enrollment can be seen in the sample size column (n) above.

By Sex

Freshmen retention is about 5 percentage points lower for males compared to females.

sex n prop
F 3568 0.836
M 1681 0.782

By First Generation Status

Freshmen retention is about 5 percentage points lower for first generation students compared to non first-generation students.

first_gen n prop
1GEN 1685 0.784
NOT_1GEN 3564 0.836

By Commuter Status

Freshmen retention is 4 percentage points lower for commuters than for non-commuters.

commuter_status n prop
commuter 1136 0.788
non-commuter 4113 0.827

By International Status

Freshmen retention is about 6.5 percentage points lower for international students compared to domestic students.

intl n prop
Dmstc 5100 0.820
Intl 149 0.756

By Ethnicity

Freshmen retention differs by ethnicity, with the highest retention rates among Asian (86%) and white students (84%) and the lowest retention rates among Black or African American (74%) and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander students (68%). Sample sizes can be seen in the table below.

ethnicity_ipeds n prop
American Indian or Alaska Native 12 0.750
Asian 551 0.860
Black or African American 243 0.739
Hispanics of any race 1663 0.800
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 42 0.677
Nonresident Alien 150 0.781
Race and Ethnicity unknown 38 0.844
Two or more races 399 0.824
White 2091 0.838
NA 60 0.833

Honors Students

Honors students have the highest retention rate among any subgroup (94%).

honors n prop
HON 694 0.942
NOT_HON 4555 0.802

Undeclared Students

Freshmen who entered with an undeclared major have retention rates that are 7.5 percentage points lower compared to freshman who enter with a declared major.

was_undeclared n prop
0 4747 0.826
1 502 0.754

Athlete Retention

athlete_ind n prop
0 4669 0.815
1 580 0.849

Number of Close Classmates

The below graphs shows the total number of classmates freshmen had in their first two semesters and their retention outcome. Note that freshmen who left after one semester are not included in this figure.

By California Native Status

Freshmen retention is similar among out-of-state students compared to California native students.

CA_native n prop
CA 4143 0.824
Other 1106 0.799

By Zip Code

Freshmen retention differs somewhat by student (home) zip code, with lowest retention rates among students with an Azusa zipcode. This likely reflects the high proportion of first generation students among Azusa natives. “Surrounding Azusa” is defined as Glendora, Covina, West Covina, San Dimas, Baldwin Park, Arcadia, and El Monte.

azusa_native n prop
Azusa 28 0.757
Other 5125 0.818
Surrounding Azusa 96 0.857

Freshman Retention by STEM Department

Freshmen retention is slightly lower (4 - 5 percentage points) among ECS majors compared to B&C and MPS majors.

first_org n prop
UGBIOCHEM 587 0.816
UGCS 162 0.768
UGMATHPHYS 51 0.810

There is significant variation in freshmen retention among different majors within departments. However, be cautious of the small sample sizes within some majors.

Department of Biology and Chemistry

acad_plan n prop
ALHEBA 154 0.870
ALHEBAIN 34 0.723
ALHEBS 116 0.829
ALHEBSIN 13 0.812
APPL 1 1.000
BIOCBS 65 0.878
BIOCBSIN 17 0.944
BIOLBS 215 0.840
BIOLBSIN 57 0.740
CHEMBS 19 0.826
CHEMBSIN 3 0.750

Department of Engineering and Computer Science

acad_plan n prop
ENG2 8 0.889
ENGR01 63 0.741
SYSENG01 23 0.958
UCIS 12 0.632
UCISBS 6 1.000
UCSI 107 0.823
XUCIS 1 1.000

Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics

acad_plan n prop
APPMATH 25 0.893
MATHBA 50 0.893
MATHBS 9 0.900
PHYS 17 0.810

STEM Retention

Recall: STEM retention is defined as whether a student who declared a major in one of three STEM departments (Math and Physics, Biology and Chemistry, or Engineering and Computer Science) is enrolled in nonzero units and still has a major in one of those departments at least one year later.

Overall, STEM retention at APU is 61%. In other words, 4 in 10 students who start as a STEM major do not persist in a STEM major at APU.

By Sex

STEM retention is sightly lower (4 percentage points) for females compared to males. This is in contrast to overall freshmen retention, which was 5 percentage points higher for females.

sex n prop
F 689 0.591
M 570 0.630

By First Generation Status

STEM retention is 16 percentage points lower for first generation students compared to continuing generation students.

first_gen n prop
1GEN 399 0.509
NOT_1GEN 861 0.668

By International Status

There is only a small number of international students who are STEM majors (total of 38 from 2015-2022), but they do have a 10 percentage point higher STEM retention rate compared to domestic students.

intl n prop
Dmstc 1222 0.606
Intl 38 0.704

By Honors Status

STEM retention is 19 percentage points lower for non-Honors students. This is greater than the difference between Honors and non-Honors students for overall APU retention.

honors n prop
HON 180 0.776
NOT_HON 1080 0.587

By Ethnicity

STEM retention differs significantly by ethnicity. Among IPEDS ethnicity categories with at least 50 students, STEM retention is highest among Asian students (66%) and white students (64%) and lowest among students of two or more races (60%), Black students (59%), and Hispanic students of any race (56%).

ethnicity_ipeds n prop
American Indian or Alaska Native 5 0.833
Asian 173 0.655
Black or African American 58 0.592
Hispanics of any race 380 0.562
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 9 0.360
Nonresident Alien 41 0.695
Race and Ethnicity unknown 12 0.545
Two or more races 94 0.599
White 472 0.636
NA 16 0.696

By in-state vs. out-of-state

STEM retention does not differ for California students vs. out-of-state students.

CA_native n prop
CA 1059 0.607
Other 201 0.613

By Zip Code

STEM retention is roughly similar for all zip-code categories.

azusa_native n prop
Azusa 7 0.583
Other 1233 0.609
Surrounding Azusa 20 0.571

STEM Retention Including non-CLAS STEM

By Sex

sex n prop
F 1896 0.716
M 1055 0.667

By First Generation Status

first_gen n prop
1GEN 926 0.582
NOT_1GEN 2026 0.767

By International Status

intl n prop
Dmstc 2882 0.699
Intl 70 0.631

By Honors Status

honors n prop
HON 311 0.827
NOT_HON 2641 0.685

By Ethnicity

ethnicity_ipeds n prop
American Indian or Alaska Native 8 0.889
Asian 471 0.770
Black or African American 110 0.636
Hispanics of any race 858 0.660
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 32 0.561
Nonresident Alien 77 0.642
Race and Ethnicity unknown 28 0.583
Two or more races 251 0.719
White 1083 0.713
NA 34 0.756

CLAS vs non-CLAS STEM retention

clas n prop
CLAS 1330 0.642
NOT_CLAS 1622 0.751

DFWs and Retention

Graduation outcomes (right) by number of DFWs (left) is shown below. All students who ever declared a STEM major are included in this diagram. Notably, 1,058 of the 3,630 STEM students (29%) who left APU did not have any DFWs prior to leaving.

The below graph shows only the 0-DFW students over admit terms and their current outcome (at APU, graduated, left APU, or did not graduate within 6 years). There was an increase in these students leaving around Spring 2020.

Aleks Scores

ALEKS data begins in Summer 2016, so the analyses in this section are restricted to students whose admit term was Summer 2016 or later.

Overall, about half of APU undergraduates have taken ALEKS. Students may be exempt from taking ALEKS for a variety of reasons, such as a high SAT Math score, AP Calculus, or transfer credit. Honors Humanities and Bachelor of Music majors are also exempt. See full list of ALEKS exemptions here.

Test Taker Demographics

Non-commuters, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, Hispanic students, and Black students are more likely to take ALEKS, but there are no differences among sex, first generation status, or international student status.

aleks_ind n
Did not take ALEKS 3988
Took ALEKS 4104

ALEKS & Chemistry

Grade in CHEM 151 by type of pre-req

Students who are exempt from the ALEKS/MATH 110 pre-requisite due to having an SAT score \(\geq\) 640 or anther exemption do the best in CHEM 151. The “Other exemption” category is made up of students who did not take ALEKS nor MATH 110, presumably due to meeting one of the other GE Quantitative Literacy waivers (e.g. high school (pre-)calculus grade, AP, IB, or CLEP), though we do not have this data.

Just under 4 in 10 CHEM 151 students who have MATH 110 or an ALEKS score as their pre-req end up with a DFW in CHEM 151 (39% and 36%, respectively), whereas less than 1 in 10 (9%) among those who come in with an SAT exemption get a DFW.

The following Sankey diagram shows the progression from MATH 110 grade to CHEM 151 grade, among those who had to take MATH 110 as a pre-requisite for CHEM 151. Note, the left-hand side shows the grade they recieved in MATH 110 during their first attempt taking the course. About 6% of students who take MATH 110 as a pre-req for CHEM 151 do not receive a B- or higher the first time, and have to re-take the course.

Among students who took ALEKS, there is a discernible relationship between ALEKS score and grade in CHEM 151. “Lowest ALEKS score” is defined as a student’s lowest score among all their attempts. On average, students who receive an A in CHEM 151 have a substantially higher Lowest ALEKS score.

grade_ABC Median Lowest ALEKS score
A 65
B 47
C 41
DFW 34
other 51
A similar relationship holds when looking at the distribution of Highest ALEKS score.
grade_ABC Median Highest ALEKS score
A 78
B 65
C 56
DFW 61
other 51

The plots below show the full distribution of ALEKS scores by grade in CHEM 151 (among students who took both).

ALEKS & Biology

The pre-requisite for BIOL 151 is MATH 95, ALEKS score of 45+, or equivalent.

Grade in BIOL 151 by type of pre-req

Similar to CHEM 151, students who are exempt from the ALEKS/MATH 95 pre-requisite due to having an SAT score \(\geq\) 640 or anther exemption do the best in BIOL 151. The “Other exemption” category is made up of students who did not take ALEKS nor MATH 95, presumably due to meeting one of the other GE Quantitative Literacy waivers (e.g. high school (pre-)calculus grade, AP, IB, or CLEP), though we do not have this data.

About 3 in 10 BIOL 151 students who have MATH 95 or an ALEKS score as their pre-req end up with a DFW in BIOL 151 (29% and 27%, respectively), whereas less than 1 in 20 (4%) among those who come in with an SAT exemption get a DFW. However, about 1 in 4 students with another type of exemption (other than SAT) get a DFW in BIOL 151 (23%).

The following Sankey diagram shows the progression from MATH 95 grade to BIOL 151 grade, among those who had to take MATH 95 as a pre-requisite for BIOL 151. Note, the left-hand side shows the grade they received in MATH 95 during their first attempt taking the course. About 5% of students who take MATH 95 as a pre-req for BIOL 151 do not pass the first time, and have to re-take the course.

Among students who took ALEKS, there is a discernible relationship between ALEKS score and grade in BIOL 151. “Lowest ALEKS score” is defined as a student’s lowest score among all their attempts. Similar to CHEM 151, on average, students who receive an A in BIOL 151 have a substantially higher Lowest ALEKS score.

grade_ABC Median Lowest ALEKS score
A 58.0
B 41.0
C 37.0
DFW 34.5
other 34.0
A similar relationship holds when looking at the distribution of Highest ALEKS score.
grade_ABC Median Highest ALEKS score
A 71
B 61
C 53
DFW 56
other 61

The plots below show the full distribution of ALEKS scores by grade in BIOL 151 (among students who took both).

Class Progression and Retention

The same data for MATH110 is shown below.

General Chemistry I Retention

All students who took CHEM151 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined two semesters later.

Note the fewer A’s and higher likelihood of leaving APU for first generation students in this and other introductory classes. Sex and commuter status appear to have less relationship with performance and retention.

General Chemistry II Retention

All students who took CHEM152 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Introductory Sequence

Only students with majors in the Biology and Chemistry department when taking these classes are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.

Mathematics

Calculus I Retention

All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Calculus II Retention

All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Introductory Statistics Retention

All students who took this class as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Introductory Sequence

Only students with majors in the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.

Biology

Biology 151

All students who took BIO151 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Biology 152

All students who took BIO152 as a STEM major are included. Their retention status is determined one semester later.

Introductory Sequence

Only students with majors in the Biology and Chemistry department when taking these classes are included in this diagram. A student is considered retained if they are still in STEM one semester after the last of these classes that they have already taken.